Classic Battletech Is Awesome: the Thread!

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**Eilif**

Chillreaper wrote:
usernamesareannoying wrote:
Do any of you use alternate models?
I like battletech but some of the minis are really showing their age.

I'm using a combination of minis from various sources :

3rd Edition PVC minis (with a fair bit of tweaking)

2nd Edition Citytech PVC minis (with a lot of reposing and tweaking)

Plastech HIPS minis (why, oh why is the Catapult so blimmin' huge?!)

Some resin recasts of Unseens (nothing to see here, officer!)

A lot of metals from Ral Partha Europe (I used to be able to visit the factory's shop )

Robotech RPG Tactics HIPS minis...

Resin minis knocked up from the Mechwarrior Online files (still nothing to see here, officer!)

Having had the chance to see the Lance Packs, I'm rather impressed with them. I think that they're pretty much up there with the metals and at least 20 times better than the plastics from the boxed set 10 years ago. I'm expecting great things from the new plastics later this year.

Just a minor correction, the material used isn't PVC, it's probably polyethylene. I don't know that ral Partha ever made any PVC minis. The CAV line is in PVC now though and there are a few VERY Battletech'ish models in there.

**DarkTraveler777**

Eilif wrote:
Chillreaper wrote:
usernamesareannoying wrote:
Do any of you use alternate models?
I like battletech but some of the minis are really showing their age.

I'm using a combination of minis from various sources :

3rd Edition PVC minis (with a fair bit of tweaking)

2nd Edition Citytech PVC minis (with a lot of reposing and tweaking)

Plastech HIPS minis (why, oh why is the Catapult so blimmin' huge?!)

Some resin recasts of Unseens (nothing to see here, officer!)

A lot of metals from Ral Partha Europe (I used to be able to visit the factory's shop )

Robotech RPG Tactics HIPS minis...

Resin minis knocked up from the Mechwarrior Online files (still nothing to see here, officer!)

Having had the chance to see the Lance Packs, I'm rather impressed with them. I think that they're pretty much up there with the metals and at least 20 times better than the plastics from the boxed set 10 years ago. I'm expecting great things from the new plastics later this year.

Just a minor correction, the material used isn't PVC, it's probably polyethylene. I don't know that ral Partha ever made any PVC minis. The CAV line is in PVC now though and there are a few VERY Battletech'ish models in there.

I've heard the 3rd edition minis called PVC before too, but I don't know what the actual material is. The material was crappy, though whatever it was. Really soft, didn't cut or sand well, and was hard to clean up.

Ral Partha didn't make them, though. They were put out directly by FASA and were included in the 3rd edition starter set and the Battlemechs boxed set.

These are the minis in question:

Spoiler:

**simonr1978**

Wow, that brings back some memories. My first introduction to Battletech in 1994 was buying that boxed set with two friends at a wargames convention in Eindhoven. Whilst it was great to play straight out of the box those miniatures were horrible to try and get painted, so soft and shiny that acrylics would more or less peel straight off.

**jouso**

simonr1978 wrote:
Wow, that brings back some memories. My first introduction to Battletech in 1994 was buying that boxed set with two friends at a wargames convention in Eindhoven. Whilst it was great to play straight out of the box those miniatures were horrible to try and get painted, so soft and shiny that acrylics would more or less peel straight off.

Worst plastic ever. Paint just ran down it. I got that set after being introduced with the older FASA box with cardboard cutouts, and ended up playing with those instead.

(We even drew our own for the extra mechs in the tech readout 3025)

**simonr1978**

I seem to remember it was mentioned in Comnet that afterwards FASA went back to the cardboard cutouts because they found people weren't interested in the plastic mechs although to be fair that might have been entirely down to the quality of the plastic. The sculpts themselves weren't terrible IIRC. I can also recall another member of our group getting the Citytech boxed set that came out a short while later which also came with miniatures but whilst I think the plastic quality was an improvement, the sculpts definitely weren't.

**Stormonu**

(I have those cardboard standees somewhere in a fishing box - they also came with Citytech, didn’t they?)

Plastech was god-awful, about the only model worth using was the Atlas - all the others were badly sized or super-ugly.

I still have my 3E mechs, and unpainted they look decent. Haven’t tried to paint them, but some of them are the only copies of the unseens I have (such as the Marauder).

They did another set of plastics (I guess for 4th) that was a mix of inner sphere and clan. Those are much better.

I haven’t seen the models for the last edition a couple years back - how good were those? As I recall, they had a special clan mech or two that were multipart, whereas the rest were one piece?

**DarkTraveler777**

Stormonu wrote:
(I have those cardboard standees somewhere in a fishing box - they also came with Citytech, didn’t they?)

Yeah, Citytech 1st edition came with the cardboard standees, along with the boxsets Reinforcements and Reinforcements 2, both of which added standees for additional `Mechs and the Clan designs (Reinforcements 2).

Stormonu wrote:
They did another set of plastics (I guess for 4th) that was a mix of inner sphere and clan. Those are much better.

That is likely the Citytech 2E set which included both IS and Clan plastics.

This is the best image I could find of the Citytech 2E `Mechs. They were better quality than the 3rd edition Battletech `Mechs, but they still were awkward compared to their metal equivalents.

Spoiler:

Stormonu wrote:
I haven’t seen the models for the last edition a couple years back - how good were those? As I recall, they had a special clan mech or two that were multipart, whereas the rest were one piece?

Overall really good. Same quality as the current Alpha Strike boxed set plastic `Mechs. The 2 "premium" Clan `Mechs they included were top notch.

**Stormonu**

Yep, those Citytech 2 mechs were the ones I was thinking of.

At some point, I need to pick up the Alpha Strike boxes. I’d done some purging of my collection ages ago and I’d like to get as full set of the 3025/3050 mech designs as I can easily get my hands on.

**Chillreaper**

Stormonu wrote:
(I have those cardboard standees somewhere in a fishing box - they also came with Citytech, didn’t they?)

Plastech was god-awful, about the only model worth using was the Atlas - all the others were badly sized or super-ugly.

I still have my 3E mechs, and unpainted they look decent. Haven’t tried to paint them, but some of them are the only copies of the unseens I have (such as the Marauder).

They did another set of plastics (I guess for 4th) that was a mix of inner sphere and clan. Those are much better.

I haven’t seen the models for the last edition a couple years back - how good were those? As I recall, they had a special clan mech or two that were multipart, whereas the rest were one piece?

I managed to redeem most of the Plastech minis (the Panther and Blackjack were alright as they were), but the Hunchback and Catapult were beyond my capability to do anything with. Maybe I'll do the ghetto MAC II with the Catapult being as I don't own a 3D printer to do a proper one.

I have just thought that I might be able to fix the Valkyries with parts from the RRT Valkyries (oh, the irony...), namely the head and arms.

The Citytech 2 minis have a lot of potential, but the arms had to be cast in some lame positions; fortunately they're easy to cut and repose. The Victor is just silly looking.

**Eilif**

They're definitely not PVC. PVC takes paint better.

The polyethelyne 3rd edition mechs can be painted but they've got to be cleaned very well and primed with a plastic specific spray paint.

I recommend krylon camo colors. Still ain't as sturdy as other plastics but should hold up fine especially after a good varnish.

**Elbows**

I remember, as a kid, trying to paint the original dark grey glossy Battletech minis from the old starter (in the early 90's) and watching my - at the time - craft paint just disappear as I tried to apply it.

**Eilif**

Elbows wrote:
I remember, as a kid, trying to paint the original dark grey glossy Battletech minis from the old starter (in the early 90's) and watching my - at the time - craft paint just disappear as I tried to apply it.

I remember ther paint sticking o.k. when i painted them as a kid.

Of course i was using oil based Testors gloss enamels which will stick to anything but are a worse choice than no paint at all!

**Mattlov**

If I remember right the 3rd Edition plastics are actually a form of vinyl.

**AegisGrimm**

Do the new Alpha Strike models/ Introductory set models take paint ok?

**Albertorius**

AegisGrimm wrote:
Do the new Alpha Strike models/ Introductory set models take paint ok?

Yeah, I've had no issues at all with them. Not even with the ones from the previous set, which were significantly worse.

**Albertorius**

Well... it looks like not only the fans are tired of Harmony Gold's shenanigans:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u_j_BhX5NWUcwNdj8Ud-Oy3NYN0-srkg/view

**Elbows**

Yeah, that's been going on for six months or so.

**Albertorius**

A year, actually, I know. It's just that the response from Piranha to Harmony Gold's rogatory is priceless ^^.

**Charistoph**

Elbows wrote:
Yeah, that's been going on for six months or so.

Yeah, the Judge had even warned the lawyers to be careful of wasting the court's time and could make a ruling which affect's the lawyers, not just the company who hired them. Some of us are practically watering at the mouth for HG to be slapped down for it.

**Stormonu**

Karma seems to be hot on the heels of HG (& PB). It should be a foot race worth watching.

**Albertorius**

Aaaaaaand it looks like Karma is catching up:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_33WnIpLEADui_Rh6dqSqtOKgNWRveWQ/view

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a), Plaintiff Harmony Gold U.S.A., Inc., and Defendants Harebrained Schemes LLC, Harebrained Holdings, Inc., and Jordan Weisman (collectively, the “Harebrained Defendants”), by and through their respective counsel of record, stipulate and agree that all of Plaintiff’s claims against the Harebrained Defendants are dismissed with prejudice, without an award of fees or costs to any party. This stipulation does not affect Plaintiff’s claims against the remaining defendants in this lawsuit.

EDIT:

For those who do not know (I did not know), a dismissal WITH prejudice means that Harmony Gold cannot bring up these claims again, in this, or any further cases.

**simonr1978**

Nice. Good to see Harmony Gold finally getting their due.

**Charistoph**

But it doesn't leave anyone else listed in the lawsuit out of the bag. What that also means is that anything that the Battletech video game that is being borrowed from the Mechwarrior Online game listed in the said suit will have to wait for the resolution before they can be released in game to avoid being drawn back in to another suit.

**Mattlov**

The dismissal "with prejudice" makes me happy.

**Stormonu**

If HBS was able to get a dismissal, wouldn't this be precedent for the others to get it dismissed if they pushed as well?

Also, who else is named in the suit anyways?

**Charistoph**

Stormonu wrote:
If HBS was able to get a dismissal, wouldn't this be precedent for the others to get it dismissed if they pushed as well?

It depends on why they were included at all and the lawyers involved as well.

Stormonu wrote:
Also, who else is named in the suit anyways?

Piranha Games is, the makers of Mechwarrior Online.

Catalyst Game Labs is indirectly via the company that they are a part of (there's some business legal mumbo jumbo involved that I don't understand).

Jordan Weisman is as well, due to a prior lawsuit settlement, but he is part of Harebrained Schemes and part of their dismissal. I think part of it may be that they went after HBS because of him and the work that they were doing they considered to be against their previous settlement. But then, HG was saying a Locust (no arms, gun under cockpit, chicken legs) was the Macross version of the Marauder (gun arms, gun over cockpit, chicken legs), so...

**Formosa**

Battletech keys going out!!!!!

AND IM ON EXCERCISE ARRRRGH!!!!

**Chillreaper**

Formosa wrote:
Battletech keys going out!!!!!

AND IM ON EXCERCISE ARRRRGH!!!!

Chillax...

It's not even available to pre-download for a day or so, then there's a day or so to go live.

You really think that I'd be spending the day scarifying my lawn if it was live?!

**DEZOAT**

Yes I got email the last two day now. Three more day to go.

**Formosa**

Chillreaper wrote:
Formosa wrote:
Battletech keys going out!!!!!

AND IM ON EXCERCISE ARRRRGH!!!!

Chillax...

It's not even available to pre-download for a day or so, then there's a day or so to go live.

You really think that I'd be spending the day scarifying my lawn if it was live?!

I’m away for 3 weeks, sucks so much.

Let me know how you get on lads